Activists 'Celebrate' Terrorist Hunger Strike With Prison Barbecue

Sinn Féin Republican Youth urge support for Derry rally in support of Palestinian Hunger Strikers

Stacy Diaz
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21 April, 2017, 03:16

The Times's public editor, Liz Spayd, criticized the paper's op-ed department for its failure to list the crimes committed by Barghouti, writing that "failing to do so risks the credibility of the author and the Op-Ed pages".

Two years later he was convicted on five counts of murder. Barghouti, who disputed the court's jurisdiction and didn't mount a defense, has been in prison since 2002. The court also found Barghouti responsible for a June 2001 attack in Maale Adumim, in which a Greek monk was murdered, a January 2002 terror attack on a gas station in Givat Zeev, and a vehicle bomb attack in Jerusalem.

In fact, the very prisoners who are considered the "strongest", those who have gained a status of respect during their years in detention, decided in advance that the strike was doomed to fail and opted not to take part. Now, readers of the article are introduced to Barghouti's insightful perspective alongside a byline that slanders him as a convicted terrorist and a murderer. "Without giant rallies, the prisoners will lose heart and will fail to force the Israelis to accept their ultimatum", he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The New York Times was roundly condemned by Jewish groups in the USA and by Israeli lawmakers, including, chiefly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that calling Barghouti a political leader is like calling Syrian President Bashar Assad a children's doctor.

It was dismaying to read an op-ed article by Marwan Barghouti in The New York Times this past Sunday.

A pair of Palestinian journalists have ended a 65-hour radio broadcast organized to raise awareness about conditions Palestinian prisoners face.

Led by Fatah central committee chief and popular leader Marwan Barghouti, "The Strike of Freedom and Dignity" is considered the biggest strike since 2012 when hundreds of prisoners participated in the effort to end solitary confinement.

The Palestinian source also said that Abbas and senior PA officials will not allow the hunger strike to affect public life or authorize mass rallies and demonstrations that will disrupt public order. While the sense of gloomy fatalism that enveloped the Palestinian leadership at Trump's election may have dissipated given his apparent willingness to push Netanyahu and the Israeli government on settlements and Jason Greenblatt's praiseworthy performance in the region last month, it does not mean that Abbas is going to suddenly give Trump anything he wants. But he has also been referred to by columnists in the Israeli and global media as the "Palestinian Mandela", and even the late Shimon Peres reportedly said that Barghouti was "the man who should lead the Palestinians".